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5:00 PM ET, September 19, 2011

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
Reed Hastings / The Official Netflix Blog:
An Explanation and Some Reflections  —  I messed up.  I owe everyone an explanation.  —  It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes.
RELATED:
Bill Gurley / abovethecrowd.com:
Understanding Why Netflix Changed Pricing  —  Many journalists have offered their opinion on Netflix's recent changes, its stock price decline, and their even more recent branding changes (Qwikster).  Yet in each article, it appears as if the journalist all agree that the price move …
Discussion: Business Insider and Technologizer
Anthony Taormina / Game Rant:
Netflix Disc-Based Service Becomes Qwikster, Will Offer Video Games … Though popular movie rental service Netflix has come under fire recently for separating its streaming and disc-based services into two distinct pricing categories, the company is not done making some bold changes.
Discussion: Computerworld and @felixsalmon
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Uh Oh ... Qwikster Already Has A Lively Twitter Account, But It's Not Owned By Netflix  —  Movie delivery service Netflix has just announced that it is rebranding its DVD-by-mail service as Qwikster and that it will keep calling its streaming service Netflix.
Dan Frommer / SplatF:   10 things to remember about Netflix while scratching your head about Qwikster
Mark Suster / Both Sides of the Table:
Why Reed Hastings Should be Applauded for Netflix Split
Discussion: Fast Company, GigaOM and @gruber, Thanks:msuster
Osama Bedier / The Official Google Blog:
Launching Google Wallet on Sprint and working with Visa, American Express and Discover  —  In May we announced Google Wallet—an app that makes your phone your wallet—with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint and First Data.  With Google Wallet, you can tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication (NFC).
RELATED:
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Google Wallet review: photos, videos, and availability  —  After a reveal back in May and the promise of a summer launch in New York and San Francisco, Google and its partners have started rolling out an update to Sprint's Nexus S 4G today that enables Google Wallet — the most ambitious US deployment …
Discussion: LAPTOP Mag, TechCrunch and Engadget
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Google Wallet, Confirmed
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Google Wallet Launch Largely Symbolic But Important
Discussion: Engadget and jacquesmattheij.com
Chris Ziegler / This is my next:
Exclusive: unannounced Motorola Android tablet caught on film, possibly a 7-incher  —  We've obtained exclusive footage this morning of a new Motorola tablet (shown above) that looks to be a lot sleeker and thinner than the 10-inch Xoom that launched earlier this year; the slightly angled corners …
Aaron Smith / Pew Internet:
Americans and Text Messaging  —  Some 83% of American adults own cell phones and three-quarters of them (73%) send and receive text messages.  The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project asked those texters in a survey how they prefer to be contacted on their cell phone and 31% …
Discussion: SiliconFilter, ZDNet and msnbc.com
Daniel P / PhoneArena:
Alleged next iPhone component shot reveals Apple A5 chip  —  Now we don't know if this is supposed to show the internals of the next iPhone, or the rumored affordable version, dubbed iPhone 4S, and we also can't vouch if this is real at all, but we were sent a link to a snapshot posted on Weibo …
Bloomberg:
AT&T Said to Seek Asset Sales to Save Bid for T-Mobile  —  AT&T Inc. (T) is approaching smaller rivals including MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) and Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP) to sell spectrum and subscribers as part of an attempt to save its $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA Inc. …
Jake Smith / 9to5Mac:
As iCloud and iOS 5 launch nears, Apple plans iCloud backup reset for Sept. 22  —  According to a posting on the Apple Developer boards this afternoon, Apple will be resetting iCloud Backup data on Thursday, September 22nd.  We believe Apple is performing this reset for the release of iOS 5 GM …
Mike Shields / Digiday:
Microsoft Pins TV Hopes on Xbox  —  Many in the media industry have wondered whether Microsoft's Xbox gaming console represents a looming threat to the cable industry, given its growing library of video options, including TV and movie rentals and Netflix streaming.  It turns out Xbox might replace the cable box.
PC Magazine:
AT&T vs. Verizon: LTE, Head-to-Head  —  Watch out, Verizon.  There's a new fastest network in town: AT&T's LTE.  —  AT&T launched a super-speedy 4G LTE network in five cities on Sunday, and PCMag.com junior analyst David Pierce is currently in Houston, Texas comparing the network to the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE system.
Discussion: GSMArena Blog
RELATED:
Gregg Keizer / PC World:
Metro Apps to Be Sold Only From Microsoft's App Store  —  Metro apps for Windows 8 will be available only through Microsoft's own store, the company said at its BUILD Windows conference last week.  —  But although Microsoft went to pains to say that it would not discuss the business end of the app store …
Josh Ong / AppleInsider:
Samsung planning legal offensive against Apple's unreleased iPhone 5  —  Samsung has already planned out an aggressive legal strategy to block sales of Apple's unannounced iPhone 5 when it arrives in Korea, a new report claims.  —  Insiders at the South Korean electronics giant indicated …
RELATED:
John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:   Samsung Slaps Apple With Aussie Countersuit
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Study: Facebook ‘App Economy’ Adds Over 200K Jobs, Contributes More Than $15B To The U.S. Economy  —  Although the U.S. employment and jobs economic outlook is bleak, a new study released today reports that Facebook is creating a thriving economy around its social network.
Matt Brian / The Next Web:
Google buys European Groupon clone, snaps up German website DailyDeal  —  With reports that Google's Groupon competitor Google Offers has gotten off to a slow start, the company has announced another acquisition in the Daily Deals space, snapping up German deal site DailyDeal.
RELATED:
Jay Yarow / Business Insider:
No Barriers To Exit: 33% Of All Groupon Clones Have Been Shut Down Or Sold This Year
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
Nilay Patel / This is my next:
HP's 7-inch TouchPad Go leaks out on Chinese forum  —  The seven-inch TouchPad Go (codenamed “Opal") was reportedly just weeks away from shipping before HP suddenly decided to kill off webOS hardware entirely, and it appears a few units made it out into the wild — check out these photos …
 
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 More Items: 
Frank Gruber / Tech Cocktail:
Groupon Co-Founders Purchase The Historic Wrigley Building
Discussion: Bloomberg
Bruce Houghton / hypebot:
MySpace Delays Announcement As Traffic Tumbles
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
Philip Delves Broughton / Financial Times:
Book review: The Lean Startup
OWNI.eu:
A guide to Libya's surveillance network
Avril Ormsby / Reuters:
News International to pay $4.7 million to settle hacking case
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Opera Acquires Mobile App Store Handster
 Earlier Items: 
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Apple said to release new iPhone 5 alongside China-focused ‘iPhone 4-plus’
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Social Loyalty And Rewards Platform CrowdTwist Raises $6M From SoftBank And Others
Discussion: Betabeat, VatorNews, GigaOM and VentureBeat
Rich Miller / Data Center Knowledge:
Twitter Adding More Data Center Space (Again)
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Ahead of Possible iPhone Launch, Sprint Tightens Upgrade and Return Policies
Discussion: VentureBeat and Business Insider
Tomio Geron / Forbes:
How One Start-up Plans To Use eBay's X.commerce Platform
Discussion: Communications …
Chris Dixon / cdixon's posterous:
bitcasa and convergent encryption
Discussion: TechCrunch